World in brief

Iran didn't report nuclear plant, agency says

UNITED NATIONS - A new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency reveals that Iran is planning or building previously unacknowledged nuclear facilities - including a heavy water research reactor - that could give it a variety of technological options for the production of nuclear weapons.

The disclosure of plans for the reactor - a type often associated with production of plutonium for nuclear weapons programs - could compound existing worries in Western capitals about Iranian intentions. While Iranian officials insist they are simply developing a civilian nuclear power program, the Bush administration has questioned whether a recently revealed uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, in central Iran, is intended solely for civilian use.

The admissions by Iran could bolster the United States' efforts to get the agency's international board to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, to which it is a party. But in an interview with Reuters, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, said, "We have done nothing which violates our commitments."

The report, a copy of which was obtained by the New York Times, was delivered to members of the atomic agency's board of governors on Friday. It concludes in part, "Iran has failed to meet its obligations" with respect to "the reporting of nuclear material, the subsequent processing and use of that material and the declaration of facilities where the material was stored and processed."

But the report also made clear that Iran was showing a newly cooperative attitude with its recent revelations.

SARS threat closes Toronto maternity ward

TORONTO - A medical student who helped deliver babies in a Toronto maternity ward has developed symptoms of SARS, an official said Friday in a setback to the city's efforts to control a second outbreak of the disease.

Health officials have told about 60 people, including obstetricians connected with Mount Sinai Hospital and women with their newborn babies, to go into home quarantine, said Dr. James Young, the Ontario commissioner of public safety. The women were instructed to stay with their infants, separate from other family members.

Authorities also closed the maternity ward and told expectant mothers scheduled to deliver there to phone an information hot line for referral to a different hospital.

Cambodia takes step toward genocide trials

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia and the United Nations signed an agreement Friday that would create the first genocide trials for former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, whose reign of terror caused an estimated 1.7-million deaths.

The agreement, six years after Cambodia asked for U.N. help in creating a tribunal, must be ratified by the legislature, and officials warn it may be a long time before the trials convene.

No leaders of the Khmer Rouge, which held power from 1975 to 1979, have faced trial for a brutal rule that led to the death of nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population. Surviving members of the regime live freely in the country.

Opposition leader charged with treason

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Police arrested Zimbabwe's main opposition leader and charged him with treason Friday as hundreds of security forces took control of the streets of the capital and prevented marches demanding the resignation of President Robert Mugabe.